2593 Best Drama Movies to Watch (Page 115)

When visiting a new town, it’s easy to expect that there will be some differences from the place you’ve come from, but the strange small town of Zerograd is downright bizarre. From naked secretaries to cakes with that look exactly like his face, Zerograd is a boggling trip, with writer-director Karen Shakhnazarov parodying the ways the Soviet Union then clung to their distortions of reality, even as it crumbles, but it also eerily echoes the way governments around the world have manipulated their people’s concept of reality all for the sake of their respective states. Zerograd’s bizarre episodes don’t seem to go anywhere, but that’s sort of expected, especially with the world still having to deal with the loss of truth globally.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Aleksei Zharkov, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Evgeniy Evstigneev, Leonid Filatov, Oleg Basilashvili, Pyotr Shcherbakov, Vladimir Menshov, Yuriy Sherstnyov

Director: Karen Shakhnazarov

Look, Wolf has a familiar, even cliché, plot. The idea of having a lead wanting to shift their life around through kickboxing is the usual stuff of cheesy sports dramas that want more viewers to watch the matches, or to learn to play the sport. But rather than take this path, Wolf instead delves into the other reasons why people might want to join the sport in its story– the money, the physical venting of frustration, and making use of skills. It’s also why, for Majid, the passion proves to falter in the face of his character. His loyalty to others, his spite, and the unresolved anger he holds paints a literally black-and-white picture of what inevitably pushes him to the film’s end. Wolf is familiar, yes, but it takes this plot to a different place that Dutch cinema doesn’t usually visit.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Actor: Bo Maerten, Cahit Ölmez, Chems Eddine Amar, Huub Smit, Jacob Derwig, Marwan Kenzari, Mat Lucas, Mustafa Duygulu, Nasrdin Dchar, Raymond Thiry, Slimane Dazi, Steef Cuijpers, Werner Kolf

Director: Jim Taihuttu

An all-female action comedy that doesn’t get self-serious about the way it’s subverting the genre — Wingwomen feels like a breath of fresh air. It wisely grasps that plot isn’t paramount for a movie like this, and so it joyously dunks on cerebral scenarios with its unabashedly silly story convolutions, like when its professional thieves take a brief pause from their momentous One Last Job™️ to sail to Italy and exact bloody, flamenco-delivered revenge on the gangsters who killed their beloved rabbit. Exotic Mediterranean location-hopping isn’t the only way Wingwomen milks Netflix’s finance department for all it can get, either: director-star Mélanie Laurent also packs in all manner of stunts, from spectacular base-jumping sequences to dramatic drone shootouts. For all its breezy style, though, there is real heart here, and not the kind that feels crafted by an algorithm. It’s true that a late twist unwisely uses the movie’s embrace of implausibility for emotional ends, but otherwise, the relationship between its professional thieves — ostensibly platonic but very much coded otherwise (a la Bend It Like Beckham) — has surprisingly sincere warmth. Thanks to the cast’s natural chemistry and characters that feel human despite the ridiculous plot, Wingwomen is much more moving than you might believe possible for a Netflix action-comedy.

Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama

Actor: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Annick Roux, Aurélien Gabrielli, Camille Verschuere, Felix Moati, Foued Nabba, Isabelle Adjani, Jean-François Perrone, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Leona D'Huy, Manon Bresch, Mélanie Laurent, Meriem Serbah, Myriam Azencot, Philippe Katerine

Director: Mélanie Laurent

Rating: R

War Pony is not easy to get through. The film, helmed by first-time directors Riley Kough and Gina Gammell, is slow to move and tackles weighty subjects like poverty, child abuse, and cultural appropriation. You’d be forgiven for asking if it was all too much, especially as the film makes its 12-year-old lead (a stellar LaDainian Crazy Thunder, who plays Matho) perform appalling things children are usually protected from. But ultimately, it also feels necessary. Kough and Gammell co-wrote the script with real-life Rez residents Franklin Sioux Bob and Bill Reddy, whose personal experiences inform much of the film’s story. Additionally, indigenous actors inhabit most of the screen and turn in naturalistic performances, adding to the film’s sense of urgency. And War Pony also weaves traces of magic into its realistic tale, making it an awe-inspiring and beautiful (albeit heavy) watch. 

Genre: Drama

Actor: Anjeliq Aurora, Ashley Shelton, Jordan Robinson

Director: Gina Gammell, Riley Keough

Rating: R

The Two of Us could have been a sweet romantic drama all about lifelong devotion regardless of the circumstances, but instead, first time director Filippo Meneghetti makes it feel more like an unsettling thriller that captures the paranoia and near insanity it feels to be closeted– with Nina having to beg Mado to tell her family, having to hide in what has become her own home, and having to bargain and manipulate her way to Madeleine’s side. Two of Us is quite a stunning debut with such a unique depiction of a lesbian relationship.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Aude-Laurence Clermont Biver, Barbara Sukowa, Denis Jousselin, Eugenie Anselin, Jérôme Varanfrain, Léa Drucker, Martine Chevallier, Muriel Bénazéraf

Director: Filippo Meneghetti

Rating: NR

I don't want to go too much into detail, but this film is an acting masterpiece. From start to finish it drags you into the characters' life and really makes you feel for the main character. It shows you how hard it really is for the main character to struggle with what she's going through. I hate being left in the dust to wonder like I was left after Tomboy and this film did it and it really gets on my nerves, but it is so good. A true masterpiece.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Cheyenne Laine, Christel Baras, Jeanne Disson, Malonn Lévana, Mathieu Demy, Noah Vero, Rayan Boubekri, Sophie Cattani, Valérie Roucher, Yohan Vero, Zoé Héran

Director: Céline Sciamma

Rating: Not Rated

Every relationship reaches a point where the excitement settles into a calmer state. Korean film Time is set at that point, but rather than the two lovers settling into comfort, they’re at odds instead– Ji-woo lets his eye roam for a bit of excitement, while Seh-hee anxiously accuses him for anything. To be honest, these two are seriously crazy. They should probably break up. But while the two push each other to increasingly toxic ends, this surprisingly talky romance drama from 3-Iron’s Kim Ki-duk holds some of his best dialogue, his signature use of symbols, as well as a critical, if a bit out there, examination to how disposable people have started to treat each other, themselves, and the human body in romantic relationships.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance

Actor: Ha Jung-woo, Jeon Se-hyun, Jeong-hwan Kong, Jung Gyu-woon, Kang Shin-chul, Kiki Sugino, Kim Sung-min, Park Ji-yeon, Seo Ji-seok, Sung Hyun-ah

Director: Kim Ki-duk